Racehorse Falls

"The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord."  Proverbs 21:31.

We were in western Washington for a short visit to see our son and his family and hiked with them and with friends to Racehorse Falls.  We hiked in through some logged areas and had very hard going of it.  We did, however, see not only the main falls but also Upper Racehorse Falls and Triple Crown Falls, all along Racehorse Creek.

Upper Falls

Racehorse Falls

"He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills."

October 6 was a school field trip for the 6-8th grades, fossil hunting and observing the geology at Racehorse Creek and Falls.  We had intended to go to Slide Mountain above the creek, but discovered that the Forest Service had closed the road.  We did hike to the base of the mountain but because it was a very wet day went no further, though we saw a lot of fossils there, mostly leaves, ferns and parts of palm fronds in shale and sandstone.

At Racehorse Creek a little later we discovered that last winter had changed things considerably.  The large pool at the base of the falls was nearly gone and the creek had changed its course making it much easier to get to the falls.  A lot more fossils had also been uncovered by the changes and we found some beauties, one of which is pictured here.  There were also a lot of mushrooms and fungi but the kids did not seem especially interested in those.

The falls have several tiers but these are visible only from a distance.  They are named for the outline of a horse's head at the side of the falls, just visible in the first photo.  Whoever named these falls must have been into racing since there is another smaller falls further upstream named Triple Crown Falls.  There is also an upper Racehorse Falls with around a 20 foot drop, but we did not hike in to them, since that requires some fairly serious bushwacking.

the falls

the creek

Western Toad (found by one of the girls)

fossils

Orange Peel Fungus

Orange Jelly Fungus

unidentified mushrooms

Big-leaf Maple

Slide Mountain and Racehorse Falls

Son Edward's girlfriend from Australia was here this summer and my wife and I took her and another friend (Edward had to work, poor chap) to Slide Mountain and Racehorse Falls.  These are some of the pictures we took, many of them my wife's, after a hard scramble up Slide Mountain and back down at the base of the mountain of Racehorse Creek and Falls.

Slide Mountain is the site of massive 2009 landslide that uncovered thousands of Eocene fossils, especially of leaves, ferns and palm fronds, and that scoured out the channel of Racehorse Creek below.  It is a wild scramble up to the top but well worth it for the view of the valley below and of the impressive collection of fossils that can be found there.

Racehorse Creek and Falls are below the slide and accessible from the same road that goes up to Slide Mountain.  On our way back down we stopped there and hiked to falls, which are named for a horse-head shaped hole to the left of the falls.  The water was low and we were able to cross the creek to the other side of the falls as well, something I had not done before.

While at  the falls the three ladies decided to go swimming (with all their clothing) in the pool at the falls' base.  It was a hot day and I am sure the water was refreshing but I took pictures instead of getting wet.  Some of the pictures of the falls include them.  After drying off a bit and hiking back to the car we went for a cup of coffee and back home.